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Joe Biden discusses Obama relationship

There have been a few moments in President Barack Obama’s first term in which he seemed slightly peeved at his number two, Joe Biden, especially when the vice president perhaps got ahead of the administration’s timetable (see: gay marriage).

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“We made a deal early on, when either one of us are dissatisfied we just flat tell the other person. And so one — lunch once a week, you know, that’s when we talk. And when he hasn’t liked something I’ve done, he just flat tells me. … He says, ‘Joe, look … I don’t agree with the way you did that. You, you know, why did you do A, B, C or D?’ Or he will say, or I will say, ‘Hey, look, man, I don’t like the way this is going’ — so there’s complete openness.”

And that gay marriage episode — in which Biden expressed his support for gay marriage before the president had revealed his own support — actually didn’t upset Obama, contrary to some reports.

“I walked into the office and he got up, smiled, gave me a big hug and he said, ‘Now, I’ll tell you what, man, that’s one of the things I like about you; you say what’s on your mind.’” The episode did rankle some White House staffers, but not the president, Biden told CNN.